A 59-year-old man found slain Christmas Day in a North York home was at the centre of a long-running and bitter family dispute, according to court documents.

Toronto police said Saturday morning that an autopsy determined that Vito Gironda, who was found dead about 6 p.m. Wednesday at 35 Ettrick Cres., was the victim of a homicide.

Gironda had lived with his parents all his life. Following his father’s death in 2003, he lived with and cared for his mother at 35 Ettrick until the 92-year-old moved to a retirement home in 2011.

According to a court judgment delivered in June, Gironda persuaded his increasingly confused and forgetful mother to give him title of her home for $2 and to transfer $175,000 of her savings to him in 2008 and 2009.

In 2005, she changed her will to leave him the house. She also transferred power of attorney over her assets and care to him from her two oldest sons. Gironda’s three brothers argued in court that their mother was “physically and emotionally dependent” on Gironda, and that “she was socially isolated because Vito alienated the rest of the family.”

Ontario Superior Court Justice Michael Penny found that Gironda was not an appropriate guardian for his mother and transferred power of attorney back to two of his brothers.

“I did not find Vito to be a reliable witness. Throughout his evidence, it became clear that Vito’s perceptions and judgments are clouded by a troubling narcissistic self-importance and self-interest,” Penny noted in his judgment, which is pending appeal.

“Vito has demonstrated a disturbing willingness to treat his mother’s money as his own,” he later wrote.

Gironda was ordered to return ownership of the three-bedroom bungalow to his mother, though Penny ruled that his mother’s revisions to her will in 2005, which name Gironda heir to the house upon her death, remain valid.

Penny also ruled in October that Gironda could continue to live at the house — but only if he paid market rent, set at $1,800 a month, less $100 for property maintenance.

Due to flood damage in July, the rent would be reduced to $850 a month until repairs were completed.

The rent payments were to retroactive to May 1, 2011, when his mother moved to a retirement home after being hospitalized after a bad fall at home. She was diagnosed with moderately severe dementia and she now requires round-the-clock care.

Gironda testified he dropped out of school in Grade 12 and has never held a job, according to the judgment.

“Vito’s evidence was that he gambled for a living. He declares no income from gambling, however, and has been on ODSP (disability benefits) for some time,” Penny wrote.

An application by Gironda for ODSP in 2000 was denied, according to a 2003 court decision which upheld that refusal.

Gironda has had a poor relationship with his three brothers, and in 2008 he was arrested for allegedly verbally assaulting and threatening one of them, according to the judgment.

He allegedly said he would “put a bullet” in his brother’s head. Gironda was the licensed owner of several handguns and long guns, according to the judgment.

His family testified in their lawsuit that Gironda later coached his mother to phone his brother and ask him to drop the charge.

In 2011, he was also threatening and accusing hospital staff of neglecting his mother’s care to the point that the police banned him from returning to the hospital.

Gironda often prevented his brothers from seeing his mother, both while she was at home and in hospital, Penny found.

Throughout the court hearing, Gironda insisted his mother was capable of looking after herself and her property and he wanted her to return home to live with him.

His mother expressed the same desire, the judgment notes.

Gironda’s brother Frank, reached by phone Saturday evening, said he had nothing to add to what police have said so far.

“You know what I know,” he said.

The homicide investigation in Gironda’s death continues. No details on the cause of death have been released yet.